A Slender Beam of Light
by ice illuser
Summary: With the awakening of Hinamori, Hitsugaya should be better, shouldn't he? But Hyourinmaru watches Hitsugaya's soul get colder and darker as Hinamori advocates Aizen's innocence. Mild HitsuHina.


Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach in anyway way, unless I dream of it, but even that doesn't happen very often…

A/N: This one-shot was completely based off of chapter 224 of Bleach. Hyourimaru's personality is what I think it is, but obviously, we still don't know. Please enjoy!

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I could feel the cold winds across my back had grown less powerful, and suddenly there was a familiar scent in the air.

I uncoiled myself, and opened one red eye to sniff the air. There was a slight waft of the smell of peaches and plums in the air.

The smell of plums could only mean Tobiume, which meant that her wielder Hinamori had to be back as well.

I quickly opened both eyes, to see that the once frozen landscape of Toshirou's soul was now only mildly cool, with some light shining from the sky.

I smiled. Hinamori Momo, Toshirou's old childhood friend, also the one he had sworn to protect. With that sort of determination, he had awakened me from my icy slumber. A prodigy, he was, but a lot of that was really due to pure determination at times.

However, when we had failed to defeat Aizen after he had stabbed Hinamori, Toshirou had blamed himself. Darkness had begun to consume him, and the once only mildly cool land, had turned positively icy.

But now that Hinamori was back, that would mean he would be better, wouldn't it?

_I'm sorry, Hitsugaya-kun. I suspected you of… I pointed my sword at you…something must really have happened to me…I'm really_—

Toshirou interrupted, assuring her in his own sarcastic way, that there was nothing to apologize for, that he didn't even care about it.

I knew better. He had been in complete turmoil when Hinamori had attacked him, believing that he had killed Aizen. Was that when I first heard the howling winds? The fact that she had believed her captain over her old childhood friend had been, to say the least, hurtful to Toshirou.

**_Also, if you aren't one, you still look like a little kid. So you need to double the sleep of other people to keep on growing! Look at Matsumoto! You'd have to sleep for another ten years straight to catch up with her!_**

_Sh-shut up! Rangiku-san is special! Also, I don't want to be told about growing up from you!_

I snickered; _someone _had perhaps been spending too much time with Matsumoto. But, despite her lazy personality, and constant drinking, she was very loyal to Toshirou. Haineko was also an interesting zanpaktou to talk to.

_**Hinamori! Don't make me keep telling you! It's Hitsugaya-taichou, not Hitsugaya-kun. **_

…_yeah…that's true. _

It was such an old argument between the two. Toshirou hated being called Shirou-chan, and Hinamori had promised to call him Hitsugaya-kun if he became a shinigami. Of course, since Toshirou became a captain, he tries to make people say that title. Whether it was something to do with his height, or something else, some just could not stick that title to his name.

…_can I ask you something, Hitsugaya-kun?_

_**What?**_

_Will you…fight Aizen-taichou, Hitsugaya-kun?_

…_**yeah.**_

_Will you…kill Aizen-taichou? Please… Save Aizen-taichou!_

The winds began to howl again. The bit of light that had been coming from the sky was swiftly disappearing. I curled up again, still listening to the conversation, even if all I wanted to do was grab Tobiume, shake her, and tell her to knock some damn sense into her wielder. But that wasn't possible, Tobiume wasn't here. Besides that, I admitted with a sinking heart, I wasn't even sure Tobiume would listen to me.

**_Hinamori!_**

_What Aizen-taichou is doing is bad…but he must have his reasons for doing that…yeah! Aizen-taichou is definitely being forced by Ichimaru-taichou or someone…_

I snorted even as the winds' howls got even louder, just when I thought it wasn't possible for it to get louder. Ichimaru Gin force Aizen to do something? If Hinamori was listening to herself, she must realize how ridiculous it must sound. Shinso was a tricky zanpaktou alright, something of a trickster, but compared to Kyoka Suigetsu, he was nothing. Kyoka Suigetsu had always been partially hidden from me, but I had always thought it was just a secretive or shy zanapktou by nature. How right I was, I realized when Aizen delivered a lethal blow to Toshirou.

Yamamoto-taichou had stopped the conversation by causing Hinamori to fall into unconsciousness. Ryujin Jakka was an extremely powerful and old zanpaktou, but even though I was ice, and he was fire, we had got along fairly well. He advised me a few times and Ban Kai form.

_Sorry…I wanted to respect her wishes and let her speak…but it seems like it was a bit too soon for that. _

_**No…thank you.**_

_Hitsugaya-taichou…_

_**I'll leave now. **_

Silence once again reigned, and I saw that it was even darker than before, when Hinamori had first fell into a coma.

"Are you going to give up so easily, Toshirou?" I called out.

He didn't answer.

"I thought you had determination, Toshirou," I continued, "especially when it came to protecting her. That's how you awakened me, remember?"

_**I remember.**_

"Then where did that Toshirou go?" I asked, "His soul was not a frozen wasteland that has begun to grow darker with each passing day."

**_How can I protect her from someone she has practically made into God! She won't listen, she won't see, she can't even accept that Aizen is a traitor! Didn't you hear what she said? She called him Aizen-taichou. She still considers him her captain. _**

"And you're just going to let that stop you? Tobiume won't answer me, but I will keep trying. She will have to face reality soon, Toshirou, and when she does, she will need you."

Harsh laughter. **_And when will that be,_** **_Hyourimaru? In another thousand years?_**

"Be what it will be, but you must focus. With this despair, you will never be able to defeat Aizen's Arrancars, much less Aizen himself."

The wind became slightly less intense. **_Indeed? Well then, what am I supposed to do?_**

"Train with me, Toshirou, and you'll soon have complete mastery of your Ban Kai. You trained so hard for your shikai back then, so just apply the same persistence now."

There was no answer, but there was now only an occasional breeze, and there was actually a slender beam of light shining from the sky.

It wasn't much, but it would have to do. Hinamori and Tobiume would eventually have to face reality, Matsumoto and Haineko would eventually have to confront Ichimaru and Shinso, Aizen and Kyoka Suigetsu would eventually attack, but by then we would be ready.

Come hell or high water, I would make sure Toshirou didn't fall into the darkness, and if I could help it, I would also make sure that Hinamori and Tobiume would never once again fall into Aizen's hands.

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A/N: …wow. My longest one-shot…did you like it? Please review (all flames will be ignored) and tell me if I should do something from Tobiume's POV.


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